Need opinion and maybe some reassurance
I apologize in advance if it looks like I've inundated this place with a bunch of questions. I've done many archive searches and sometimes I still feel I need more information.
Recently I bought a 2002 Insight CVT w/ 110,500 on the odo for $6500. It was a bit more than what I was wanting to pay, but I thought it was in good shape (albeit some dings and scratches) and the interior pretty clean, and to sweeten the deal, I got the car with a new IMA battery (new as in not a few months ago or even a week ago, but I picked the car up with a NEW battery pack).
So after first week, I noticed something was weird about the coolant. I contacted the PO and explained the symptoms. He suspected it could be a head gasket issue. The car never overheated, oil was clean as was the inside of the oil cap, and coolant was clean. It was just that I saw some bubbling in the expansion tank and that at one point coolant must have reached a high level and leaked some out of the tank. More like a a few splashes. The diagnosis was that maybe some compression gas leaked into the coolant due to a bad HG. Good thing there was no mixing of coolant and oil or coolant getting into the engine.
I learned later that in the past the car did overheat due to a bad radiator cap. Car was towed and I guess nothing was really done afterwards other than a new radiator cap.
When PO removed head, he took it to a shop to have it checked. He said the head was within tolerance but may have been slightly off when running. He had it resurfaced.
So now I have an engine with a resurfaced head and a new HG and another gasket that goes between the block and manifold. My main concern now: is an engine that once overheated and then got a new HG and head resurfaced just as good as new?
I've noticed that before I had this white solidified goop around the edges of where the block and head meets. I guess this is the liquid gasket that's used to make a final seal, especially around corners. I didn't see any of that stuff, so I don't think the PO used any. Is this bad? I've noticed that on two corners of the block (one being by the oil dipstick) where you can actually see edge of the HG there is oil. It's not a leak, but if you pressed a towel on it, you'll get a "lined" stain of oil where it just sits on the gasket edge. After wiping, it comes back.
Had I known about this issue, I would have been more aggressive in lowering the price or walking away. The PO did do the HG at no charge and even lent me a loaner car. I greatly appreciated that, but did I get a good deal still?
Last edited by dirty hippie; 08-28-2010 at 03:34 PM.
|
